Canadian retail sales surged for the sixth straight month, by a stronger-than-expected 1.1% to $42.6bn, according to a data released by Statistics Canada.
In June, gains were reported in 8 of 11 subsectors, representing 71% of retail trade.
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Across all subsectors, the largest sales increase in dollar terms was observed in general merchandise stores, which was up by 3.9%.
Sales at food and beverage stores rose 1.3% while supermarkets and other grocery store sales increased 1.3% following a decline in May.
Beer, wine and liquor store sales increased 2%. The gain coincided with the early rounds of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in the latter half of June.
Clothing and clothing accessories stores (+3.8%) registered a sales advance for the third consecutive month as higher sales were reported at clothing stores (+4.2%), shoe stores (+3.5%) and jewellery, luggage and leather goods stores (+1.2%).
Higher sales were reported at gasoline stations (+0.9%) for the eighth consecutive month, mainly reflecting higher prices at the pump.
In the first six months of 2014, retail sales were up 4.7% compared with the same period in 2013.
In volume terms, retail sales increased 0.6% in June.
Geographically, retail sales were up in nine provinces in June. Higher sales were witnessed in Ontario and, to a lesser extent, Alberta and British Columbia accounted for most of the increase. Saskatchewan was the only province to register a decline in June.
